Senior Year & stencil fun!

My oldest is a Senior in High School this year.  And yes, I am slightly freaked out by that!  It is both an exciting time in their lives and a nostalgic time in their parents lives.  Anyhow, just so you know I am a bit scattered right now with all those "last" this' and thats' for her, while also enjoying the last quarter of the 10th, and 2nd graders' year also with my other 2 kiddos.  Here is a little Prom moment. to share.  I'm definitely biased, but she is just so lovely.

I am so proud of this young woman!  She is just a joy to have around, and I just can't believe how fast the years have flown by.   Next time I'll pick on another child to plop up here in a post.  Love them all!  There are just lots of programs, parties to plan and attend, graduation, and other obligations so if I'm absent a bit for the next couple of months you'll know why.

 I am continuing to work on projects, though not as many and most are client projects that I often have a hard time photographing before they leave.  I do have 2 pieces that have been finished for a while and just waiting for a spare moment to get their 15 minutes of fame on the blog.  This piece has been done for a while and was so much fun to work on.

It's early life was steeped in golden oak, with great lines, and eventually some water damage that caused it to be abandoned at a thrift store.  I'm there for you baby.  I brought her home and worked to level out the raised areas left by the the water damage.  This piece was just for pure fun and I do wish I had taken more close up photos, but it was bitterly cold out at the time.  Don't let that Nebraska sun fool you!  I chose to work with some of the American Paint Company Limited Ellis Island Collection.  There is a haphazard layering of 'Crushed Tea' and 'Peacock' over the entire body.  I finished with a coat of 'Limoge'.  Sanded down a bit to knock off any paint strokes a bit, then wet distressed.  I love how this clay and chalk based paint distresses so easily, and the colors in both the regular line and special collection are fabulous.  I wish you could see the Peacock peeking through the top coat.  

If it hadn't been such a wickedly cold winter I might have tried to get a few more photos.

I broke out one of my new stencils and used the Crushed Tea color to stencil a hounds tooth pattern on top.  I distressed again as I liked that contrast of the more formal styled table taking on a bit of a shabby/rustic style.  3 coats of APC's no odor clear wax finished it all up.  It's finished and ready for someone fun and hip that needs it!

Have a super week!
Deb

The Bee Twins Older Brother Comes To Visit

It was a dark and stormy...morning, when the Bee Twins Older Brother slunk out of the shadows and into...more shadows.  Ok, it was a crappy day to take a photo, but it was on my agenda and so by golly I muddled through it.  Sorry, but I'm tryin' to stay on schedule with my turn arounds before the Mr. takes away my keys and blocks CL from my computer. 

Older Brother was part of the set I purchased several weeks ago.  Here he is.

Large, chunky, and solid, solid Oak.  This is a truly functional piece of furniture.  See these gorgeous knobs?

It's a nice drawer for remotes, manuals, more remotes, and lots of other goodies. 





BOTH ends open up for even more storage.  Think games, a blanket or snugglie, magazine storage.

Nice and deep storage...with air holes in case the little people in your house decide to "hide" the cat in there...or their little brother.  It does have safety piano hinges that I had not reattached when I took the photos...in the dark and stormy light. 

This Bad Boy is going to be for sale at the Mini Prairie Market coming up soon.  More on that in a later post, but hint, hint there's a Prairie Market button at the top of the page.

Look, beadboard panels, sigh.  Aren't they dreamy? and Cottagey? and Beachy?  This is one hansome Older Brother!  Color is AS Old White, distressed, and waxed to within an inch of his life! 

Have a great day!
Deb

More Coffee Please!!!

It seems we are sprinting through September!  Two of my children have gotten older this month, with one fun birthday party still to come this weekend.  Marching band for the older two is in full swing, which means parades, and football games, and even some pep bands, and many early practices, and sectionals.  We've also had  volleyball practices and games for one of kiddos.  And now that they are older we are lucky enough to have great youth group programs at our church that they love attending.  All this just means that I have to take advantage of the hours they are tucked away in desks at school to get my work done.  It also means more and more coffee to keep me moving as we are in the home stretch before PP&PM! 

I can't remember if I showed you this before.

A very unflattering workshop picture where I didn't even bother setting the end table on it's feet!  Sheesh, that's bad.  I think I was taking some afters of one of the buffets, and turned around saw them and remembered I had not taken a before and snapped this before the sun set.  The story of my life these days, sunset photos.  Well, I finally got to these two this week.  They both got a nice little update.  I have to give thanks to my inspiration on the coffee table to Red Hen Home and her coffee table projects.  There have been many, many more out there in blog land that have also done this, so I'm not unique by any stretch, but it's the first time I've seen it in my "neck of the woods" and I hope someone out there will think they are a refreshing update on some very 80's tables.

The French postcard graphic from The Graphic Fairy (what an amazing site that is!) was transferred, handpainted, and then sanded down to distress it a bit.  Here is the Coffee tables friend, the End Table/Lamp Table, with his own small graphic a No. 3.

These two play nicely together, or seperately in a family or rec room.  They are wearing Annie Sloan's Old White chalk paint, lightly distressed, and multiple coats of wax to protect them. 

One of my neighbors drove by during the photo shoot and yelled out his window, "It looks like Nebraska Furniture Mart in there!"  Now, only locals to Nebraska and the Kansas City area understand what "the Mart" is, but it is a HUGE furniture store.  I'm hardly there, but I do have to say that I have a nice tidy bit of restyled furnishings for everyone's shopping pleasure so I hope you'll stop by for the Market!

Happy Thursday, Good Luck Dragons both band and football at your competitions this weekend, and yeah, Homecoming!
Deb
Linking to:
http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/2011/09/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link_29.html

and

http://redoux.blogspot.com/2011/09/friday-redoux-link-up-party-23-and-les.html?showComment=1317446003484